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SHENANDOAH, TEXAS -- Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology sophomore Ellie Hong qualified for the "A" Final in the 200-backstroke at the NCAA Division III Swimming and Diving National Championships with a sixth-place finish in this morning's time trials.
Hong will compete for All-American honors in tonight's race. The evening session begins at 6 p.m. Central Time. She finished sixth in the trials with a school record of 2:00.26.
Tonight will cap an outstanding weekend for Hong at this year's NCAA Division III Championships. On Friday night, she placed 14th in the 100-yard backstroke to earn honorable mention All-American honors.
Hong recorded a time of 56.68 seconds to earn the first honorable mention All-American honor of her Rose-Hulman career last night. Last year, Hong captured All-American honors with a seventh-place national finish in the 200-backstroke.
She qualified for the "B" Final at this year's championship with a 100-backstroke time of 56.41 seconds that snapped her own Rose-Hulman school record on Friday morning. Hong also stands as the No. 7 qualifier in the 200-backstroke with a 2:00.80 mark entering Saturday's competition.
The 100-backstroke was the second event of the week for Hong, after placing 40th in the 50-freestyle on Wednesday (24.50 seconds).
The top eight finishers in morning sessions each day will compete in the "A" Final for a national championship that evening, and finishers 9-16 in preliminaries will compete in the "B" Final in the night session. The top eight finishers in the final race will receive All-American accolades, and the top eight finishers in the "B" Final will be honorable mention All-Americans.
Hong is joined at this year's NCAA Division III Championships by junior Orion Martin, who earned All-American honors on Thursday night (SEE RELATED STORY).
